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The internet lives in Dog years

The internet is a bit like dogs. Life moves a bit more quickly. Which is why I still laugh whenever I hear that the latest hit website is going to be the dominate force forever in that that category. As Facebook is currently being touted to be, then I love to remind the pundit just a little bit about the history of the internet.

Yahoo was search. it was game set and match, then came Google.

Myspace was social networking – it had won, apparently…

Blackbery had stitched up the hand held internet enabled smart phone market…

Geocites was the way we’d all have our own websites… then came blogging

All of which remind us how things can change ever so quickly on the intenert. This wont change, because the barriers to entry are so low. $5 an hour in India for a coder, $9.99 for a domain, $Free internet access and a wifi enabled laptop for a few hundred dollars and you’re an internet entrepreneur. Unlike TV and tradtional media outlets, anyone can play. Creativity wins, not financial resources.

The insight is that the forums people hang out in will always change, like disco’s and pubs (the web is social) – it’s also kinda Punk. Our job isn’t to predict which is the next big thing, but to learn how to use them quickly so that we can participate in a timely manner.

I agree, Steve. The barriers to entry are low and anyone can play, which means it’s a lot easier to get in and do it badly. But this can also be an opportunity. If you’re even moderately good at it, you can set yourself apart and the spammers and low-quality guys won’t have any idea how or won’t put in the effort to catch up. And a rockin’ Facebook page isn’t the “secret sauce” any more than an awesome Geocities site was.

Anyone can play, but your point is good: you still have to be creative and good to succeed.

“… All of which remind us how things can change ever so quickly on the internet. This wont change, because the barriers to entry are so low. $5 an hour in India for a coder, $9.99 for a domain, $Free internet access and a wifi enabled laptop for a few hundred dollars and you’re an internet entrepreneur. Unlike TV and tradtional media outlets, anyone can play. Creativity wins, not financial resources. …”

I would caveat this statement by saying, creativity only wins when you innovate and build *new* things. Try replicating say google or amazon or facebook and see how financial constraints work – even if you have willing users. So yes each of the above companies could be replaced but not by the same type of product at a critical transition point in technology.

“… Our job isn’t to predict which is the next big thing, but to learn how to use them quickly so that we can participate in a timely manner. …”